In the prior art of trapping their are many sizes and designs of traps that are used to capture an animal by the foot. The majority of these traps are not able to operate in a constricted space such as that of a hole. They also operate in a manner in which the animal to be trapped must step on the trap before the trigger mechanism is released allowing the jaws to close. A disadvantage of these traps is the difficulty of predicting where an animal is going to step and getting the animal to properly step on the trap. These traps inherent another disadvantage of having non-target animals interfere and getting caught in the trap.
Typical trap designs that are able to operate in a constricted space of a hole are limited to capturing rodent sized animals. The majority do not positively prevent the jaws from opening once closed on an animal. Therefore they rely on the force of the spring to squeeze an animal which prevents the animal from escaping. Many are unable to take advantage of the strength of a jaw which is mounted at both ends, compared to that of a jaw that is mounted at one end. Others do not allow an animal to pass through the trap and use impaling devices that would result in undesirable pelt damage to smaller furbearing animals.